Turkeys and Bikers

Things are rather boring in our neck of the woods. 

We continue to monitor the ongoing COVID numbers, and we patiently await our turn to receive the vaccine. I don't quite know how this process will work, so I watch the website for the local hospital hoping to find some useful information there. So far, they can only report that when they learn anything, it will be posted.

The weather has been a bit colder than usual, and the wind has been awful. If you walk in weather like this, you spend most of your time chasing your hat down the street rather than having an enjoyable walk. 

A group of local bikers, led by Santa himself, passed through our little subdivision recently. They made 2 passes along our streets. I did not count how many were in the procession, but there were quite a few, probably between 30 and 40.

The jolly old elf spreading cheer from his motorcycle.

Biker parade coming down the street.

And the turkeys continue to roam the yards, causing mayhem wherever they go. They have become regular features in our backyard just off our patio. A year or two ago, we seldom saw them in our yard; now they come through several times a week and linger. They are entertaining.

Some of the turkeys grazing around our little oak tree.

Some of them spotted me and stopped to give me a "lookin' at."

We'll have a video chat with Courtney and her gang on Christmas Eve. Donna is making potato salad, baked beans, and ham for the meal. I'm really looking forward to that.

My hair is getting a bit shaggy, so it's time for another haircut. However, after my last experience, I'm a bit concerned about Donna cutting my hair. She hasn't been in a good mood lately, so I could come away from this experience bald. I need all of you out there to pray for me -- and my hair!

Our latest puzzle is "Summertime." After the last puzzle, this one was a pleasure to complete. It had lots of varied colors, making it rather easy. And once complete, it rewarded us with a relaxing picture. I'd like to be drifting around that little lake in that canoe.

"Summertime"

You folks stay safe out there!

More Christmas, 2020

It's been a festive Christmas week for us.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we spent one evening viewing Christmas lights around town. A day or two earlier, I spent one afternoon and walked 2.78 miles delivering Christmas cards to our neighbors in our little community. Each year, we expand our list and it takes a little longer to deliver the cards.

On Friday, the Rio Concho West (RCW) version of Santa Claus visited all residents. In true West Texas fashion, Santa gathered his merry elves on a trailer and drove through the streets of our neighborhood, passing out a little holiday cheer. We've been pretty careful about social distancing here, so we have not been able to socialize as we usually do. It was good to see the RCW staff.

RCW elves making deliveries while Santa enjoys a ride on a trailer.

Santa and his entourage

Notice Santa's recliner on the trailer

On Saturday night, Donna and I visited San Angelo State Park just a couple of miles down the road from us for "Holly Days in the Park." The park started this event a few years ago, I believe. Park staff decorate and bring out special guests, like Santa and Smokey Bear. Overnight guests in the park are encouraged to decorate their RVs so visitors can drive through. 

Decorated campsite at San Angelo State Park

We were surprised at how many people ventured to the park for this event. The event began at 6:00 PM, and we arrived about 6:05. There was probably a line of 10 to 15 cars ahead of us, and several were behind us. The number grew as the night wore on. Most of the campsites were occupied, and almost all of them were decorated in some fashion. I was unable to get any good pictures with my cheap little camera. The lone picture above is somewhat representative of the night, though. 

I've been a bit remiss taking pictures of autumn color in the neighborhood. Now, you have to understand that this is West Texas, and there are very few native trees in the area other than those clustered along the rivers and the fast multiplying mesquite that seems to pop up everywhere.  But there is a bit of color here and there. I know that one tree that is always pretty about half a mile up our street has already lost its color, so I missed that opportunity. Below are a handful of pictures with a little color.

This is probably my favorite picture from a yard near the entrance to our subdivision. It has a variety of hues: light green, burnt orange, rust, etc.

I rather like this shot of the contrasting colors of these two well-shaped trees. Had I taken this picture a week earlier, the tree on the right would probably have had some bright red color.

Here are two more trees with some color contrast.

Finally, the puzzle we have just completed was a difficult one. Since pieces were uniform in size and shape, it was very challenging to put the blue sky together. As a final insult, a piece was missing (lower right in grassy area).

"Old Farm Indiana"

I wish all of you a safe and merry holiday season. May there be vaccine soon in a clinic or pharmacy near you.

Christmas Lights 2020

Donna and I drove around last night and looked at Christmas lights. The old girl made some homemade hot chocolate, then we jumped in the car and made our annual tour.

We've made it a tradition since living here to always start with the Tour of Lights. The tour begins at the intersection of West 1st Street and Veterans Memorial Drive on the North Concho River and moves east along the river to the Bosque (intersection of Veterans Memorial Drive and South Irving Street). The street parallels the north bank of the river, and most of the lights are across the river on the south bank. I enjoy how the lights reflect in the normally still waters of the river, giving you a mirror image. The main theme of the lights is the 12 Days of Christmas. 

I no longer take pictures of the lights as mine never come out like I want. I have taken pictures in the past, though, and you can find some of these at "Christmas Lights in San Angelo, 2014". But for better pictures, consult the official web site referenced in the second paragraph above and view the Gallery. 

We made some other rounds as well. There is a family on the south side of town that always has an impressive array of lights, so we drove by their house. We drove through the university, but very few lights were on display there. We also drove through the Santa Rita area, and found some nice lights there along Paseo de Vaca Street. 

We had a traffic jam on the back side of our house yesterday. A group of turkeys decided to cross the street, effectively holding up traffic along this busy, busy street. Yeah, those birds are pushing their luck.

Rio Concho traffic jam

Cold Front Lingering

A cold front moved into the area a day or two after Thanksgiving and decided to stay for a while. The nights have hovered around the freezing mark, dipping a couple of times to the mid-20s or so. The days have been decent, I suppose, although there has been a chilly day or two, especially when the wind howls through at 20 mph or greater. But for the most part, we've enjoyed sunny days with highs in the 50s. 

It is now (Sunday afternoon) up into the mid 60s, and predictions indicate we will reach highs in the 60s and even the 70s for the next week or so. I see no hope of rain, though. Gosh, we are pretty dry; we could use a nice, slow soaking rain.

Early December is when Donna and I have all of our annual medical appointments. We debated about whether to keep these this year or postpone due to COVID, but at our age we decided we needed to touch base with our medical professionals. All went well. Few people were in the offices we visited, so spacing was generous and CDC guidelines were practiced by all. The doctors think we will live another year and bid us on our way. I did get a pneumonia shot, so I can mark that off my list. Our PCP discussed the upcoming COVID vaccine shots with us; we will be looking to get our shots when they become available to folks in our category. Our doctor told us that since we contribute nothing to society, we were expendable and would be last in line. That's nothing new; I've been told that before.

Local hospitals are scrambling to find room for COVID patients. Recently, our large hospital system -- Shannon -- purchased its local competitor, Community General. Now we basically have only 1 hospital system, Shannon. Community General is now known as Shannon South Campus. We've enjoyed our relationship with Shannon over the years and hope that this lack of competition will not alter the way things are done. Most of the clinics we visit are located at the downtown campus, but we are happy that there is an urgent care clinic very near us. We go there for lab work and whenever we are sick.

A few months ago, I mentioned that Shannon was putting up a new building at the entrance to our subdivision. I even snapped a few early construction photos and posted them. As I recall, it will be a long-term therapy facility. Shannon currently has such a facility on the east side of town, what they call their St. John's campus. But the growth corridor for San Angelo is on the west side, where we live. So this facility will be located conveniently for future growth. I expect the facility will be completed by summer.

New long-term therapy center under construction at the entrance to our subdivision.

The neighborhood turkeys are up to no good, as usual. I guess they think that since Thanksgiving is in the rear-view mirror, they are safe. Just after lunch, I looked out and caught several of them on our patio. And, as you might expect, they left some surprises for us there. Well, I had planned to have ham for Christmas, but I just might have turkey after all.

I took this shot of our visitors through the slats of our blinds looking out back. They are a brazen bunch.

Here's a close up of a will turkey for those of you who have never seen one. They don't resemble those that President Trump recently pardoned, do they.

Sometimes, for no reason at all, they decide to throw a conniption and chase each other around.

I wish you all well. Don't let your guard down this close to vaccine being distributed. We'll see you on the other side.

Post-Thanksgiving, 2020

Well, another Thanksgiving has come and gone. 

We had a nice video Thanksgiving with Courtney and the 4 men in her life: son-in-law Michael, and grandsons Xander, Camden, and Jensen. We visited for just over an hour from the comfort of our separate tables, and it was a good time. 

Since then, we've been eating left overs, and we think we will finish today. 

Sunrise a few mornings ago.

As usual, Donna's feast was great. Even though she tried to scale things down since there would be only the 2 of us, we still had a generous amount of food: turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, broccoli rice casserole, corn casserole, lime jello, pumpkin pie, and chess pie (my favorite). Usually I have to share my chess pie with Courtney, but this year I get the whole thing to myself. I think we'll do a video-Thanksgiving next year!

After lunch, I waddled outside to hang Christmas lights while Donna put up the Christmas tree. She has scaled down this year and only put on the lights, no ornaments. After all, we'll probably do a video Christmas as the virus will still be raging then; in fact, I expect it to be worse. By sundown, we were officially in the Christmas season. Holiday tunes are now playing around the clock, cloves are boiling on the stove sending their scent throughout the house, and we are merry.

We completed "The Birch Point Cove" the day before Thanksgiving.

Through Thanksgiving Day, we were able to continue sitting out in the afternoon and early evening. We had gotten into a routine of going out about 6:30 or so every evening, and we were almost always rewarded with deer sightings. Sometimes they moved through our yard, and sometimes they moved through our neighbors' yards. We were seldom disappointed, though. The other night, I was standing up when a doe came through the yard, not too far from our patio. I stood still and watched. She looked my way and seemed to sense something there out of the ordinary. I did not move. She craned her neck one way and then another, really looking in my direction. Finally, she slowly moved away. We've had several experiences like that since living here. I guess their eyesight is not that good.

An elderly neighbor lady across the street fell in her house the other day. The lady who walks her dog for her was there at the time and decided to call an ambulance just to be safe. This is quite common out here. We see ambulances in the neighborhood quite frequently. After all, everyone in this development is at least 64 years old, and some are into their 90s. Well, the old girl was alright, just a bit shaken and sore. Donna has been calling to check on her, and I took her garbage out to the curb for her Friday morning.

I worked all of the beds in the front yard last week. It's always good to get my hands in the dirt. I miss having a garden and a yard to maintain. I'm like my father in that respect. Both of us not only enjoyed getting dirt on our hands, but we found yard and garden work to be good therapy. The dirt in our beds here is horrible, though, so one of the things I work on is composting. Donna saves her plant wastes from the kitchen, and I save coffee grounds. About once a week or so, I work these into the soil. I figure by the time I'm 100 or so, we may have some topsoil healthy enough to grow something other than weeds. Still, it's rewarding and enjoyable.

A cold front moved through Saturday morning, and we even got a bit of moisture from it. It's still cold this morning, and it looks like this cooler weather will stay with us for a while. The lows at night hover around freezing, while the highs will probably not get above 60. Guess we won't be sitting out anymore. I guess my morning walks are over for a while as well; time to shift to afternoon walks.

Can you believe that December is almost here? Most of us will be glad to get past 2020, but that doesn't mean all the problems stop. At least we do see some light at the end of the tunnel. I hope these vaccines are effective; I'd like to get back to something resembling normal. I wonder if we ever will truly return to normal, though.

Last night, Donna and I were watching an old Wheel of Fortune show. We were both surprised at how close the contestants used to be to one another. There is a sort of conditioning we have gone through with COVID that may never allow us to see things the same. How long before we don't mind being close to other people? How long before we stop looking at others to ensure they are wearing a mask? 

I thought you might enjoy a picture of some turkey butts to end this entry. 

Thanksgiving 2020

Just a short note to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.

Yes, 2020 has been a rough year, but rough times tend to make me thankful for the things I do have, especially the little things we often overlook. I hope you feel the same. When things get bad, I know that they can even get worse.

I wish each and every one of you a safe and peaceful Thanksgiving. May the next time this holiday roll around be under more pleasant circumstances.

Happy Wife Equals Happy Hair

I've just learned a new rule in the game of marriage: never let your wife cut your hair when she's mad at you. And for me, that would be just about all of the time.

As Donna cranked up the electric clippers Saturday, I felt them touch the back of my neck and start working up. Then I heard a devilish laugh come from Donna. 

When she finished cutting my hair, she held up the mirror and showed me what she had done. Here is a picture of her artistry.

New hair style, a la Miss Donna.

On top of that, she then grounded me for 2 weeks, saying I was too ugly and homely to go outside where anyone could see me. So, for the next 2 weeks, I'm stuck inside. Hopefully, my hair will grow back by then.

Maybe I should risk COVID to get a decent haircut.

On other fronts, the weather continues to be great. If we could just get some rain occasionally, it would be perfect. You can't have everything, though.

Here is our latest puzzle.

"Liberty Village Celebration"

Now it's time to prep for Thanksgiving. Donna and I will be alone this year. Courtney and her clan will do a video Thanksgiving with us on Thursday. They are also practicing safe living. We will probably do the same for Christmas. It's a very, very small price to pay to keep loved ones safe so that we can celebrate together in the years to come.

Be smart and stay safe.